Southerners are fond of saying that the south shall rise again, but its pretty clear that some never got the message. In the age-old, mind-numbing, endless conversation about whether Confederate flags and symbols are racist (hint: they are) and should be removed, a new ally has been enlisted to help states make their case—Donald Trump. Louisiana’s Lt. Gov. William “Billy” Nungesser is petitioning the Racist-in-Chief for his help to ensure that New Orleans’ Confederate monuments have the funding to stay exactly where they are.
Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser is worried that three bills aimed at keeping New Orleans' Confederate monuments in place could die a quick death once the Louisiana Legislature opens on Monday (April 10), he told WVUE Fox 8. So Nungesser says he's asking President Donald Trump for some help outside the Capitol, and is also consulting with lawyers from the Louisiana Attorney General's office, the TV station reported.
"Some of the lawyers for the state are looking at it to see if the lieutenant governor's office has any grounds. I know a lot of people are hanging their hat on the legislation in Baton Rouge," Nungesser told Fox 8. "My concerns are the committees that those bills are being put in are not favorable committees for those bills to get out of committee and we need to be honest about that."
Oh, boo hoo. The committees those bills are being put in are not favorable to those bills? Seriously? Of all the issues facing the state and people of New Orleans, this is what the lieutenant governor is worried about right now?!
Back in August, a report issued by WalletHub said that Louisiana had the worst school system in America. Meanwhile, the post-Katrina statistics for the most marginalized remain grim. The child poverty rate in New Orleans is 40 percent, the overall poverty rate is 30 percent (both unchanged since the year 2000), and in a recent ranking of 300 American cities by income inequality, New Orleans came in second. But, hey, heaven forbid the city lose money for its Confederate monuments—even if, sadly, a majority of state residents support this waste of money.
While many New Orleanians have voiced support for removing the Confederate monuments, including major voices in the black community who see the monuments as a historic effort to subjugate black people, there has been vocal opposition statewide. In a poll conducted by LSU, Louisiana residents overwhelmingly said they oppose removing Confederate monuments.
Symbols, like words, do matter. And there is certainly huge value in maintaining symbols of cultural heritage and pride. But let’s get real, folks. There is absolutely no way to divorce these symbols from what they represent—a historic and prolonged movement to maintain a system of white supremacy that literally saw black people as nothing more than property to be traded, bought, and sold. It’s doubtful that they will be removed. These kind of old-school beliefs are not easily changed, especially not in the Trump era. The real question is whether or not Trump will actually come to the aid of Nungesser and the people of the state who actually voted for him. Check out Nungesser’s plea to Trump:
"I wrote him a letter and I asked him to look out your window, look at the statute of Jackson there at the White House because Andrew Jackson in Jackson Square is next in New Orleans if we don't do something," Nungesser said.
Unfortunately for Nungesser, it’s unlikely that Trump has any idea who Andrew Jackson actually is.